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chapter two

Gabriel's tail wagged crazily as Aaron approached the picnic table at the back of the roadsiderestaurant.

"That's our lunch, isn't it, Aaron?"the dog said happily, his back end swaying from side to side with the force of his muscular tail.
 
"It sure smells good,"
 
he said with a heavy pant, sniffing at the bottom of the bags Aaron carried.
"I'm so hungry, I could eat cat food."

Aaron laughed as he set the bags down on the wooden table. "Was that a joke, Gabe?" he asked theexcited dog.

"No,"the dog replied, his eyes never leaving the white bags.
"I really would eat cat food."

Aaron laughed again and began to remove the food from the bags. Camael was sitting on one of thewooden benches gazing off into space, as if he was watching something a thousandmiles away. For all Aaron knew, that very well could have been what he was doing.

"Did he give you a hard time while I was gone?" Aaron asked Camael. For some reason, Gabriel had

not taken to the angel and was prone to being difficult when Aaron was not around.

"He chattered, but I ignored him," Camael said without turning. "And he did eat something off the

ground, a filthy habit."

Aaron glanced down at the dog sitting obediently at his feet. "You know you're not supposed to dothat," he said sternly.

Gabriel wagged his tail some more.
 
"It was gum,"
 
he said, as if that would make it all right.

"I don't care," Aaron said, picking up one of the wrapped sandwiches. "You could get sick."

"But I like gum."

Aaron squatted down in front of the dog and began to unwrap the burger. "Gum isn't for dogs. No gum.

Get it?"

The Lab ignored him, instead sticking his snout inside the sandwich wrapper to see what Aaron held. "Is
this for me? Is this my lunch?"

"Yep, it is," Aaron answered as he removed the meat from the bun. "You don't need any bread, though."

He discarded the roll into one of the now empty bags.

"Hey, what are you doing that for?"Gabriel panicked.
"That's my lunch, you said. Why are you

throwing it away?"

Aaron held out the hamburger. "Here, this is what you want. I just threw away the bread. It'll make youfat."

Gabriel couldn't stop looking at the bag.
"But I want the bread, too,"
 
he whined pathetically.

Aaron sighed and shook his head. At first it had been fun being able to communicate with his best friend,but now he found it more and more like dealing with a small child. "Look, are you going to eat this ornot?" he asked. "Usually you don't even have lunch, so this should be treat."

The dog reluctantly pried his gaze from the bag and gently snatched the burger from Aaron's hand. Hechewed once and then swallowed with a loud gulp.

Aaron patted the dog's side. "That was pretty good, huh?"

Gabriel licked his lips and gazed into his master's eyes.
 
"Any more?"

"No," Aaron said. "I bought one for me and one for you. That's it."

"Are you going to eat your bread?"Gabriel asked

"Yes, I'm going to eat my bread."

"It will make you fat."

"You're too much, Gabriel." Aaron laughed. He took a bottle of water and poured some into a paper cup. "Here's some water to wash down your burger," he said as he set the cup on the ground in front of the dog.

Gabriel began to lap at the cup, careful not to tip it over.
 
"I'm still hungry,"
he grumbled between laps.

"Sorry," Aaron said, picking up his own burger and sitting down beside Camael. "Think of how good

your supper will taste."

The dog grunted and strolled off to sniff at an overgrown patch of grass near the edge of the parking lot.

Aaron watched him go. He hated to be mean, but if he allowed Gabriel to eat every time he said he washungry, the dog would weight three hundred pounds. He couldn't begin to count all the overweight Labshe'd seen while working at the veterinary clinic back inLynn,Massachusetts . It was the Labradorretriever curse—they loved to eat.

He sighed as he picked up his burger and took a bite. It was good, cooked just the way he liked it,medium rare, with lettuce, tomato, and a little mayo. He chewed for a moment, swallowed, and turned to Camael, still sitting silently and staring off into space. "What exactly are you looking at?"

"I see a great deal," the angel replied, his voice like a far-off rumble of thunder. "A father and son fishing by a stream, an old woman hanging laundry in her yard, a female fox teaching her litter how to hunt frogs." He paused, tilting his head as if to examine something at another angle. "It is what I do not see that interests me."

Aaron opened another bottle of water and took a sip. "Okay, what don't you see?"

"As of now, I see no sign of pursuit."

"And that's a good thing—right?" Aaron took another bite of his burger and reached for a cardboard container of French fries. He dumped half on the wrapper with the remains of his burger and placed the container with the rest in front of Camael.

The action broke the angel's steely stare, and he looked down on the container before him. "I told you, Ido not need to eat," he said with a hint of a scowl.

Aaron bit half of a large fry and chewed. "You don't
need
to," he said. "Doesn't mean that you
can't.
 
Tryone."

Camael slowly placed his hands on either side of the container. "As I was saying," he said, studying the French fries as if they were new forms of life, "I have seen no trace of the Powers since leaving your cityofLynn , so it would appear that the magical wards I left to mask our passing have proven beneficial."

"Is that what you've been doing?" Aaron asked with surprise. He consumed the last bite of his burger. "I was a little worried by how slow we've been moving. I thought you were getting a little wrapped up in the whole sight-seeing thing."

Camael removed a French fry from the container and glared at it. "I have been on thisplanet forthousands of years, boy. The urge to 'sight-see' was purged long ago."

And then the angel did something that Aaron imagined he'd never see. Camael popped the French fryinto his mouth and began to chew. He chewed for what seemed an insane amount of time and thenswallowed. "Adequate," he said, tilting the container toward him and reaching for another.

Aaron took a sip of his water and smacked his lips. "Do you think these wards will be enough?" heasked. "I mean, will it keep them off our backs until we can find where they're keeping Stevie?"

The angel was eating fries like a pro, three and four at a time.
For someone who doesn't need to
eat, hecertainly seems to be enjoying himself,Aaron thought as he waited for an answer.

"The wards are merely a distraction. My magickal skills are nowhere near Verchiel's and the Archons in

his service—"

"Archons?" Aaron interrupted.

"Angels of the Powers who have mastered the complexities of angelic magick. They will see through our ruse sooner rather than later, but let us hope the wards will buy us enough time to find that to which you are being drawn."

Aaron had felt the strange sensation since leavingLynn behind. He still didn't understand what it was—itseemed to be an urge, a need to travel north. ThroughNew Hampshire ,Vermont , and nowMaine , hewas being drawn inexorably northward. Even as he sat, finishing his lunch, he could feel it pulsing in hismind, urging him onward. "Do you think what I'm feeling will take us to Stevie?" he asked with hope.

Camael had finished the last of the fries, tipping over the container to be sure it was empty. "Yourabilities are still young, Aaron. They are as much a mystery to me as they are to you."

"But it's possible, right?" he persisted. "Like maybe I'm somehow connected to Stevie—and I'm being

drawn to him."

The angel nodded slowly. "It is possible," he said, his large hand stroking his silvery gray goatee. "But itmay be that you are being pulled to something else—something of greater importance."

"I don't understand." Aaron stared intently at the angel. "What could I be drawn to if not Stevie? What

can be more important than him?"

The angel remained silent, continuing to stroke his bearded chin, seemingly lost within his own thoughts.

"Camael?" Aaron prompted, raising his voice slightly.

"It is a most elusive place," Camael finally answered, his eyes glazed. Then he turned to Aaron and fixed

him in an intense glare.
"Aerie,"
 
he whispered. "You could be taking us to Aerie."

Faces flashed before Camael's eyes; images of those he'd saved from the destructive wrath ofthe Powers throughout the innumerable centuries since he'd left the angelic Host.
 
Where had they gone?
 
Itwas a question he often asked himself. Some were eliminated later, the Powers eventually tracking themand succeeding in their malevolent goals. But there were others, others who had managed to find a veryspecial place, a place that still eluded him.

"Aerie?" Aaron was asking. "Isn't that a bird's nest or something?"

"It is a place unlike any other on this world, Aaron, a special place—a secret place, where those who have fallen await their reunion with Heaven." Camael folded his hands before him, remembering the times when he thought he had found it—only to be sadly disappointed.

"Have you ever been to this place?" the Nephilim asked.

"No. The Aerie is hidden from me, for I am not fully trusted," he replied. "Remember, I was once the leader of the Powers, and they would like nothing more than to burn away Aerie and all it stands for."

"Are you sure there really is such a place?" Aaron asked.

Camael tried to imagine what his existence would have been like without the idea of Aerie's presence tocomfort him. He doubted he would have been able to continue his mission without the promise ofsomething better awaiting those he struggled to save—something better forhimself. "It exists," he saidquietly. "I'm sure of it—just as I know that you are of whom the prophecy speaks. And Aaron, thosewho live there, in this secret place,
they
 
believe in the prophecy that you personify." He paused. "They'rewaiting for you, boy."

Aaron seemed taken aback by this latest revelation. In a way, Camael felt pity for the youth and hishuman perceptions of the world. The idea of what he actually was, and what his true purpose was to be,must have been quite overwhelming for his primitive mind. Although he did have to admit that, at thismoment, the youth wasn't doing too badly.

"All the people in Aerie—Othey're waiting for me to do for them what I did for Zeke?"

Camael nodded, remembering the valiant Grigori, who had helped him rescue Aaron during the Powers'attack on the boy's home. Zeke had been mortally wounded and the Nephilim had used his prophetic giftto forgive his trespasses and allow his return to Heaven. "It is your destiny to release
all
 
who repent," hesaid.

Aaron seemed to be digesting his words, the importance of his destiny sinking in even deeper. "Before Ido any more forgiving, we're going to find Stevie," he said. "Wherever this urge is taking us, whether it'sto my brother, or to Aerie, or to a place that makes really great tacos, finding Stevie and getting him

away from that bastard Verchiel is the number one priority—agreed?"

Aaron demanded, an intense seriousness in his look.

Camael thought about arguing with the youth, but he sensed that it would be for naught. No matter howdifferent Aaron Corbet had become since awakening the angelic power that resided within him, he stillthought of himself as human. "Agreed," he answered.

There was still much Aaron had to learn— but that would come over time.

"That wasn't very nice,"Gabriel grumbled as he sniffed along the grounds of the picnic area.
 
"Not very

nice at all."

He was following a scent, something that made his stomach growl and his mouth salivate. Gabriel washungry—although there was seldom a time that he wasn't feeling the pangs of hunger. At a green trashbarrel, he found the crumpled remains of an ice-cream sandwich wrapper. There were other pieces oftrash that had missed the receptacle as well, but he would investigate those later, after he'd given thewrapper his full attention.

The dog was hurt that Aaron could be so insensitive to his needs. He was hungry, and Aaron still wouldnot let him have the bread that he was going to throw away, anyway. It was frustrating and only served tomake him hungrier.

Gabriel nudged the wrapper with his nose, pulling the delicious scents of dried vanilla icecream andchocolate cookie up into his sensitive nostrils. His tongue shot out to lap at the wrapper, the moisturemaking the scents clinging to the refuse all the more pungent.

You don't eat things off the ground,he remembered Aaron scolding him. And he knew that he shouldn't,but he was angry, and so very hungry. Gabriel took the ice-cream sandwich wrapper into his mouth andbegan to chew. It didn't taste like much, but then, dogs don't have taste buds. The deliciousness ofsomething was based entirely on its smell. If it smelled like something to eat, that was good enough for adog, especially aLabrador . Very few things required more than a chew or two, and the paper wrapperwas soon sliding down Gabriel's throat and into his stomach.